Summer Recap

I know..its been a long time since I blogged! It was nice to step back from the old routine and enjoy the summer, as it goes by so quickly, in our neck of the woods. I hope all of you had some enjoyable and memorable days of summer as well.

So to give you an overview of my summer, I am just going to recap some summer favorites.

Most Memorable Day-  Spending time in Victoria: taking the water taxi to Fishermans Wharf, going on a ghost walk in the old city at night, and enjoying the city nightlife afterwards.

Most Relaxing Moment- lying on the beach with my hubby, under the shade of a big oak tree, reading my book.

Favorite Color of the Season- Lemon Zest Yellow!  Not normally a color that I would choose, but  for some strange reason, I was consistently drawn to this sunshiny yellow this summer, and bought a several items of clothing in this happy color.

Favorite New Music- Ashleigh Mannix-A fabulous blend of folk, blues and rock, this Aussie singer has stolen my heart!

Favorite Movie- The Butler-  I dragged my husband and 15 year old son to see this movie, and surprise...they loved it! Thought  it was a good history lesson for my son. Very emotional movie.

Favourite Book- Salt, Sugar Fat- How The Food Giants hooked Us- Michael Moss takes us behind the scenes on how the big food companies, like Kraft, Coke, and General Foods hooked us onto processed foods, and all the false marketing and health problems related to these foods.You wont look at your grocery store the same ever again. I highly recommend this book if you are even somewhat concerned about what you are putting into your body!

Favorite Summer Fairs- Well, thats a toss up between the St. Marks Fair in Qualicum Beach, which is like one huge garage and art/craft sale that goes on for blocks, and the elite arts and crafts show called the Filberg Festival which is held in the gardens of the Filberg estate, by the oceanside in Comox. To me,  either one is a pure heavenly way to spend a day! Here is my friend checking out the amazing glass art at the Filberg Festival.

Most Fun- Sharing time with family and friends! Our kids and grand kids were all out visiting us on Vancouver Island, at different points during our stay. We also had visits from friends, as well as my husbands brothers, so it was definitely  action packed at times!

My granddaughter and me

The grand kids and my son

Everyone at the lake

My eldest daughter and me

Family and Friends

My youngest daughter and her fiance

My middle daughter and me

            What were the highlights of your summer?

Pin It

Newcastle Island

A ten day break to the coast was good for my soul.  Visiting and catching up with my daughter, and spending time with old friends, wonderful weather, good food, and invigorating adventures, have rejuvenated me.

We had an amazing day hike to a small neighbouring island, which is actually one of British Columbia's  provincial parks, and only accessible by boat.  So we had to take the little passenger ferry boat across to the island.

 There are several hiking trails on this Island and we chose to do the hike around the perimeter of the island, which is almost 5 miles.  There are many beautiful beaches along the way.

My friend and I, posing for the camera!

                        Here are my friends and my son leading the way.

                                                  The views were stunning!

 Looking back towards the mainland, we could see the snow capped mountains.

 The trail took us through forests, and up over sandstone cliffs where we had some fantastic view points. We saw eagles, a blue heron, Arbutus, Douglas Fir and Garry oak trees.

We sat and ate our well deserved picnic lunch in this pretty bay.

(My son and husband.)

There is a lot of history on this tiny island, ranging from native fishing sites and burial grounds, to coal mining and quarrying for sandstone.

Back in 1869, the American government was searching for sandstone to build the San Francisco mint. they needed massive blocks of sandstone as well as giant columns for this building. The American builders settled on Newcastle Island stone for its superior qualities. Almost 8,000 tonnes of sandstone were cut and transported, by ship, to San Francisco over a period of 4 years.

The San Francisco mint was to have 8 massive sandstone columns made on Newcastle Island and shipped south to San Francisco. However, in 1872, during the ship transport of 2 of the columns, the ship was caught in a snowstorm and sank off the coast of Vancouver Island. 

                       The old quarry.



Over 100 years later,in 1976, the sunken shipwreck was located by divers, and one of the giant sandstone columns was salvaged and brought back to  Newcastle Island, where today it sits as a memorial to the sunken ship and its crew.

We spent about 4 hours here, on Newcastle island, and it certainly wasn't enough time to fully explore all that this park has to offer. I cant wait to go back again in the summer, and hike some of the other trails on this fantastic island.





Pin It

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

   Don't eat too many chocolate bunnies!

FYI...these photos were taken LAST Easter in the garden of my other house on Vancouver Island.

 (Right now,  I still have snow on my property here !) Pin It

Time Away

I just got back from 4 days away, at our seaside home, on Vancouver Island.  We encountered a wind storm, on the day we arrived, but the rest of our weekend was super. We did some antiquing in a few of the quaint little seaside villages and towns, where I discovered some great vintage finds to add to future jewelry designs. I always find it exciting to get my hands on  some interesting little object that I can add to a necklace or bracelet! We also went for a walk through the forest and down to the beach where we  saw a couple of sea lions swimming about in the water.

 We drove to the town of Ladysmith (Did you know that Pamela Anderson was born there!) There was already Christmas decorations up outside city hall! I loved the colors of  these beautiful trees!

 

There are still flowers blooming in my garden at my Vancouver Island home, and there are still leaves on the trees. It was all beautiful, fun and very relaxing!

 

However, after a fabulous weekend away it was time to come home and get back to reality! Unfortunately, we flew back home today, welcomed by blowing snow and frigid temperatures.

Pin It

Mission accomplished....Spring Found!

Last week, I went to the west coast of Canada, on Vancouver Island, in search of Spring, and I am happy to report that I found it! After many, many months, of snow, ice, and cold temperatures here in the foothills of the Alberta, Rocky Mountains, I thoroughly embraced every moment of Spring that I could get in 10 days on the west coast. So without further adieu, here are the pics!

I found Spring here!

and here!

"Hey, who's that crazy lady taking pictures of everyones front yards?"

Flowers on fences and trellises.

The monk and his flock.

Trees with big pink flowers...oh my!

 

 

Who says palm trees don't grow in Canada?

I have no idea what this is, but it is beautiful!

The deer have lots to eat here!

 

 

 

My son on the rocks!

 

 

 

 

 

Finding spring.... I am very happy!!

Pin It